Advanced Cannabis Investors Eye Early Harvest

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Advanced Cannabis Solutions (CANN), one of the largest publicly traded marijuana stocks by market cap, registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday to sell some 2,415,700 shares held by 93 investors.

"We are moving what were restricted shares and hoping to get them approved to be free-trading shares," said Robert Frichtel, president and CEO of the Colorado-based landlord to pot growers, which got its public listing by acquiring a publicly traded oil and gas mapping company last year.

The lengthy filing by Advanced Cannibis Solutions includes a copy of its first commercial lease, an eight-year deal for a 5,000-square-foot free-standing building about 100 miles south of Denver in Pueblo West, Colo. with a pot-grower called Organic Solutions, Inc. After a first month of free rent, the monthly rent is $4,500 in months two through six and roughly $9,500 for the bulk of the lease.

Frichtel, who has a background in commercial real estate finance, says pot growers are leasing spaces of as large as 60,000 to 70,000 in a few cases.

The investors acquired their restricted shares in two separate transactions in recent months. The registration moves the investors a step closer to potentially cashing in on big profits -- roughly $1 million in a few cases -- given the run up in Advanced Cannabis Solutions and other pot-related stocks after both Colorado and Washington legalized marijuana for recreational use and other states move closer to doing to same. The SEC still has to approve the registration, which Frichtel said he expects to take 30-120 days.

"A registration statement coming from a company like ours that's in the cannabis space -- it's going to be very interesting to see how the SEC responds. We anticipate it being a positive response. We are a fully reporting company," Frichtel said.

Federal policies have not yet recognized recently changed state laws legalizing recreational and medicinal uses of marijuana. An SEC spokeswoman had no immediate response to a question about the filing.

Shares of Advanced Cannabis Solutions, which trades over the counter like nearly all other marijuana-related stocks, were up 1.74% to $12.26 in mid-afternoon trading. Shares of two other large marijuana stocks CannaVEST Corp. (CANV) and Medical Marijuana Inc. (MJNA), were up 14.05% and 7.92% respectively.